News, Trump Administration

U.S. House quashes effort to consider impeachment

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2 hours ago
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D- California)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Wednesday refused to consider impeachment articles against President Trump, with most Democrats siding with Republicans to kill the effort.

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) attempted to use a procedural mechanism on the House floor to prod his colleagues to vote on his impeachment resolution stating that Trump “is unfit to be President and warrants impeachment, trial, and removal from office.”

But the House voted 332-95 in favor of a “motion to table” the effort, effectively killing the resolution. Only 95 Democrats supported Greens’ effort, with 137 Democrats joining 194 Republicans and Michigan independent Justin Amash to table the resolution.

North Carolina’s three Democrats split on the matter. David Price voted for the motion to table, while G.K. Butterfield and Alma Adams voted against it. All 10 Republicans from the state voted “aye,” except for Mark Walker, who did not vote.

It comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democrats have urged the caucus to tread slowly on impeachment efforts. Even many of the Democrats who back an impeachment “inquiry” — a first step toward a floor vote on impeachment — say they want to spend time building a solid record against Trump in the House Judiciary Committee.

Green’s resolution specifically condemned Trump for his recent racist comments after the president told four Democratic members of Congress to “go back” to other countries.

Wednesday’s vote is expected to intensify the debate between the Democratic lawmakers who are anxious to move on impeachment and those — including some moderates who flipped Republian seats in November — who are wary of political pitfalls.

Trump derided impeachment supporters after the vote.

“The United States House of Representatives has just overwhelmingly voted to kill the Resolution on Impeachment, 332-95-1. This is perhaps the most ridiculous and time consuming project I have ever had to work on,” he wrote on Twitter. “This should never be allowed to happen to another President of the United States again!”

Robin Bravender is the Washington Bureau Chief of the States Newsroom Network, of which Policy Watch is a member.

Commentary, Trump Administration

As Trump arrives in Greenville, analysts highlight administration’s “broken promises” in NC

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11 hours ago
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As the controversy surrounding his recent racist statements continues to roil around him, President Trump will be speaking in Greenville this evening. In anticipation of Trump’s arrival, analysts at the Center for American Progress have produced a new and powerful North Carolina-specific update to the group’s “Trump’s Broken Promises” website.

Among the findings:

PROFITS AND WAGES

Promise: “I will [be] the greatest jobs President that God ever created … our poorer citizens will get new jobs and higher pay and new hope for their life.” – Donald Trump, October 5, 2016

Reality: 

  • This week, the president threatened to veto the House’s effort to increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in 10 years.
    • Currently, a student working full time at a minimum wage job would have to devote their entire salary for two years to pay for a four-year degree at East Carolina University; in-state tuition for four years costs more than $28,000, not counting books and room and board.
  • Experts predict that close to 13,000 North Carolina jobs will be lost as a result of President Trump’s erratic steel and aluminum trade policies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


HEALTH CARE

Promise: “I’m asking for your vote so we can repeal and replace Obamacare, and save health care for every family in North Carolina.” – Donald Trump in Raleigh, North Carolina, November 7, 2016

Reality: Trump is trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through the courts with no replacement:

  • 3.9 million North Carolinians with pre-existing conditions will lose protections under ACA repeal.
  • 503,000 North Carolinians will lose their health coverage under ACA repeal.
  • $4,550: Annual premium increase for the average North Carolina family.
  • Trump launched an all-out attack on our health care by trying to repeal and sabotage the Affordable Care Act. https://trumpsbrokenpromises.org/north-carolina/#healthcare

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


TAXES

Promise: “[W]e will massively cut taxes for the middle class.” – Donald Trump in Wilmington, North Carolina, November 5, 2016

Reality: 83 percent of the benefits from President Trump’s $2 trillion tax cut go to corporations and the top 1 percent. Many North Carolina families are getting stuck with the bill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here to see the full report.

News, Trump Administration

House condemns Trump’s ‘racist comments’, not a single NC Republican stands against the President

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1 day ago
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President Donald Trump (Credit: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons)

On Tuesday, the U.S. House voted (240-187) to formally condemn President Trump’s racist comments directed at members of Congress.

Earlier this week, Trump took to Twitter to attack four Congresswomen of color – Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) – suggesting they ‘go back’ to the counties they came from.

Three of the women were born in the U.S. All were elected by voters in their respective states to serve in Congress.

The resolution reads in part that the House of Representatives:

“…strongly condemns President Donald Trump’s racist comments that have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color…”

Rep. Alma Adams

Congresswoman Alma Adams (NC-12), one of the three North Carolina congressional representatives to vote for the resolution, has called Trump’s remarks “hateful and un-American.”

Ahead of the President’s “Keep America Great” rally in Greenville Wednesday evening, not a single Republican from the North Carolina’s House delegation voted to rebuke Trump.

In all, just four Republicans in the U.S. House – Reps. Susan Brooks of Indiana, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Will Hurd of Texas, and Fred Upton of Michigan- voted with Democrats to support the condemnation.

Read the full resolution here.

See how the entire North Carolina delegation voted:
Yea
Rep. G.K. Butterfield – 1st District
Rep. David Price – 4th District
Rep. Alma Adams – 12th district

Nay
Rep. George Holding – 2nd District
Rep. Virginia Foxx – 5th District
Rep. Mark Walker – 6th District
Rep. David Rouzer – 7th District
Rep. Richard Hudson – 8th District
Rep. Patrick McHenry – 10th District
Rep. Mark Meadows – 11th District
Rep. Ted Budd – 13th District

North Carolina’s 3rd District & 9th District seats are currently vacant.

News, Trump Administration

Public comments still being accepted on Trump proposal that would leave 55,000 citizens without a home

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9 days ago
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In News, Trump Administration

On May 10, 2019, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development published a proposed rule affecting “mixed-status families” in public housing.

“Mixed-status families” are those with members eligible for public assistance and ineligible based on their immigration status. The current rule states that these families are permitted to live in public housing, but the ineligible family members would have to “pay their own way,” out-of-pocket, and would not receive personal federal assistance.

Crucially, not every immigrant who is ineligible for public housing is necessarily undocumented. Immigrants can have legal status and still be ineligible for public housing.

As we reported earlier, the new HUD rule states that every member of a family would have to be eligible in order to live in public housing.

According to data from HUD, an estimated 25,000 families would be forced to make the choice between breaking up their family and becoming homeless. It is estimated that 55,000 U.S. citizen children around the country would lose their subsidized housing as a result of this rule.

The rule would also require residents under 62 years of age to have their immigration status verified through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements or SAVE Program. Families with members judged to be ineligible through this program would be evicted from their housing within 18 months.

The proposed rule is not yet in effect. It is open for public comment until tomorrow, July 9. HUD is accepting comments here.

Commentary, Trump Administration

Demise of Census question is an important reminder in battle to combat Trumpism

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15 days ago
In Commentary, Trump Administration

As the New York Times and numerous other outlets have reported since yesterday afternoon, the Trump administration has finally backed off of its harebrained scheme to intimidate immigrant communities by adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. This is, of course, great news. The decision represents a stinging defeat for the anti-immigrant movement that Trump has championed and ought to send a message to caring and thinking people all over that the fight for immigrant rights is a battle that they can win.

But a lot of damage has already been done.

As Thomas Saenz, of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund told the Times, “No matter what happens, there’s still a lingering hardship from how long the administration had this hanging out there, and the publicity it got.”

And, of course, there’s no indication that Trump and his minions have decided to retreat from their barbaric, fear-based strategy in other places and forums. As Raul Pinto observed yesterday over on the main Policy Watch site, legislation currently being advanced at the North Carolina General Assembly is based on the same premise as the now-rejected Census question and the horrific treatment of asylum seekers at the border: fear.

Of course, the most important antidote to fear is courage — courage to stand up to the bullies who seek to poison America’s longstanding heritage as a beacon — however flawed — of freedom in the world and a hope for the future. Especially as we celebrate the Independence Day holiday tomorrow, let’s take renewed courage from yesterday’s victory and celebrate it as a hopeful sign, and maybe even a turning point, in the fight to defeat the wretched, small-minded, bullying approach to life that Trumpism represents.

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